The Good Gangster—A.T. Bennett
A few years ago there was a rumour circulating around Facebook that Al Capone lobbied for expiration dates on milk bottles for “the safety of children and pregnant women” after his kid niece fell ill drinking spoiled milk.
What a caring thought, huh?
But yes. It was that Al Capone.
The guy who helped orchestrate such wonderfully bloody events as the Valentine’s Day Massacre.
Although Snopes cannot verify the authenticity of Capone’s pursuit of food quality, what is known is that The Kingpin of Vice stepped up during the Great Depression…by opening a soup kitchen. As politicians scrambled, his 935 South State Street Kitchen served breakfast, lunch, and dinner to over 2,200 hungry Chicagoans a day, including holidays. (Someone stole 1,000 turkeys, which initially thwarted his plans for hosting Thanksgiving dinner. He ended up pivoting to beef stew though, and thus saved Thanksgiving.)
The “charitable” gangster isn’t just restricted to the bygone age of flappers and bootlegging. Until recently, “Don’t kill women and children” was an enforced code of conduct in the Italian mafia. Then there is the Yakuza. They were among the first to offer relief during the Kobe earthquake of 1995, and the tsunami of 2011. They trucked in food, water, blankets and toiletries to various evacuation centres. While government aid was slow in reaching certain areas, they were often the first boots on the ground.
Gangs big and small don’t come into being when everything is hunky-dory in the world. Their “origin stories” always stem from desperation, poverty, and an intrinsic need for protection. Once established, they grow. While we average, law-abiding citizens face the daily grind, they have to deal with internal power struggles and external threats…often against people packing high-caliber weaponry. In writing stories that feature mobs and mobsters, take time to ensure that you don’t portray them as some two-dimensional, cookie-cut monster. Even a two-bit, modern street gang has foundational concepts of what makes up family and, more importantly, loyalty. They have rules (and God help you if you break them).
Granted, for whatever good they do, they primarily peddle pain and death. They are brutal. Violent. I’m merely suggesting that as villains, they are multi-faceted. If you only portray them in one aspect, you are left with essentially a forgettable boogie man. However, if you give them a moral compass, you put forth a truly complicated character.
How they interact with the police, the community, other gangs, and their own members will be wildly different—but they will follow a set of internal guidelines. So, not only must your mobsters follow some sort of code, but they must stick to it like tar on a feather. Give them one thing that is 100% good, and then follow through by demonstrating it. Because gangsters are a …complicated evil. Sometimes they are even a tolerated, necessary evil.
An example of this is Jim Butcher’s character, “Gentleman” Johnny Marcone. He is a pragmatic, decidedly ruthless crime lord. His empire is responsible for an untold number of deaths and general human misery in Chicago. However, his character is also strangely protective of the wider community from larger, often supernatural threats. His reasoning for this quirk, on the surface , is entirely selfish—keeping people alive is the most efficient way to run a profitable business. And while he considers adults fair game, he has declared kids off limits. He deals with anyone who breaks that tenant harshly.
In the battle of good versus evil, Marcone is a character you want to hate, not least because the hero of the series does.
But as a reader, just can’t. Not completely.
And that makes for an entertaining read.